Botcon 2009 - Transformers Animated Animating Animated Panel

Animated – will not continue beyond season 3 in animation

Video – the various shorts were shown.
1 - School short up first.
2 - the mime short we saw on youtube.
3 – Grimlock fetch video
4 – Prowl bike jump
5 – Ratchet fixing Bulkhead
6 – Starscream heckling Megatron
7 – Starscream conquers the galaxy, other Decepticons sucking up, Blackarachnia slave girl, Megatron waiter, Starscream was dreaming
8 – Lugnut POKE the Amazon, Blitzwing wanted a swimming pool
9 – Blitzwing doing the classic scene change for hypnosis on Lugnut
10 – Optimus bio video
11 – Megatron bio video
12 – Bulkhead bio
13 – Bumblebee bio
14 – Ratchet Bio
15 – Prowl Bio
16 – Starscream Bio

Process starts with the creation of the series bible, characters, relationships

Nanosec was the pilot episode that was created, the basic normal everyday episode.

In production – starts with stories, 2-3 line story springboards, 15-16 stories to choose from for 13 episodes. Starts with something like “we’ll use Swindle”. Overall season arc is decided, changes as they go like how season 1 was originally written as 13 then expanded to 16 when pilot moved into a movie.

Stories drafted over and over, drafted and redrafted.

Actors all read together.

Group session, group dynamic.

Cast for versatility, aim was for a wide range of characters, about 1000 voices from the main cast alone.

Scripts written, fleshed out into a show.

Fleshed out with designs, day night colors. Designers for each different aspect of the show. Lots of little designs, stuff like back views, top of Fanzone’s head.
Some of the backgrounds have a lot of depth, like Optimus’ room has a row of trailers including the G1 trailer.

Storyboards – lots of post its. Notes on the script made, sent over to studio for the storyboard to be produced, reviewed and sometimes sent back.
Long hours of phone conversations.

Lots of people on the show on every level fans of Transformers.

Edited and once timing was good, handed to Audio Circus who did the audio.

Lots of SFX, lot of fun with new SFX for each episode. Huge sound for big robots biggest fun.

Season 3’s opening was storyboarded in the US rather than overseas.

Final episode used 260 channels of audio.


Robot Sari was planned from the beginning

Chins – Derrick has no idea real answer, to look more cartoony.

Wanted to do Deathsaurus, more Dai Atlas.

Team Charr and Rodimus – Spittor all SFX, Brawn would have been Corey Burton if he’d spoken.

Transwarped planned as a two party not three.

Warned early the series might end so wrapped it up as much as they could. Left some bits open to continue the story – they have the answers to the hanging questions.

Originally, Constructicons and Wreck Gar were in Endgame Part 2, they were meant to survive. Dinobots were in the script, flying off into the ocean when the Lugnut Supremes crash landed.

FFFFFFFuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Thanks for the info. Those two new shorts (the dream and hypnosis ones) sound cool, I bet they will be on the Season 3 DVD. Glad to know they planned for Wreck-Gar and the Dinobots and the Constructicons in "Endgame." Did they say why they didn't make it in?

Wow, a lot of interesting stuff. Transwarped a two-parter??? I can't even imagine...

so you said it won be 'continuing in animation'. did they specifically state wether or not a comic series or anything else may follow it up? or wether the toy line is cancelled or just postponed?

Thought so. Now I just can't wait to hear them! I'm sure it's all very interesting, especially concerning Sari, Sentinel and Magnus.

That's about what I figured, since they were all likely too far out of range.

So much for the Dinos having some last-minute super heroics in them, though - sounds like they just decided "F-this" and left when the Supremes landed, so probably better they didn't show them at all. Or am I missing the joke? By "flying off," does that mean the impact just sent them all Loony Toons style up into the air and then into the ocean? LOL

I wonder of we will ever get closure to the Blackaracnia/Elita-1 story. Any info on that?

Thanks for the info.

I hope all the unreleased shorts go to DVD.

Still wish there was more Animated.

Good stuff, I wish I was at Botcon.

No statement on toys, or a comic. If they'd said that I'd have let you know. Might come out tomorrow.

Yeah, sounds that way. Don't think it even made it to storyboarding.

Boooooeeeerrrrrnnnnnnsssssss!!!!!!!!!!

Well, there's our nail in the coffin. Hope the next series will be at least 3/4 good as this...
and as long as it doesn't go back to Unicron trilogy standards

Animated

is this panel still ongoing? if so what episode was Beachcomber supposed to be in and what role did he play? (this said there are far more important questions that need answering like what happened to Ultra Magnus, is Blackarachnia back in time? why was femmescream appearing out of nowhere only to disappear again? why did sari's protoform look different fromt he ones in the ship if that's where she came from? etc etc)

nice to know they have answers to the remaining threads, just hope they see the light of day somehow, someday.

I think so. Be it a S3 DVD commentary for the finale, or even a special featurette on what might have been, had the series continued.

I really think people can relax about S3 on DVD, too - we'll get it. It was by far the most popular season overall before the series ended. It will sell. They'll release it.

Hmmm...I have to say, I'm really torn over the overhanging plot details? Do I want them to tell us? Or do I want them to hold them back, just in case there's ever a chance of this storyline ever continuing in some capacity?

Whatever the case, it's a real shame that the show ended when it did, because there was very clearly a lot of juice left in the tank...

So where are all those people who told me I was wrong when I stated months ago that the Animated cartoon was definitely ending with season 3? The toys didn't sell, the show didn't do as well as expected, and honestly the kids weren't interested in it. I have said this for months now but faced so much denial it was crazy. Simple economics really. Finally it is confirmed and honestly thank God. Hell Kickback had to change his signature just to stop the denial on so many levels. I am glad it failed and maybe we can move on to a cool-looking Transformers show. Finally some catharsis on this issue.

DUDE, I want to see the Starscream conquers galaxy short and Blitzwing hypnosis short.

fuk CN

Thanks for the run down.

So in theory the last we would have seen of the dinobots is them flying into the sea... I'm kinda happy they never got any screen time

Now at least they have lots of holes for spinoffs to fill out on comic books and hopefully some toys in the Universe line later.

Ok SO they've now officially said its over...have they said why?

If its only over because Hasbro want to run their own series on thier new channel thats kinda lame.

I assume we will at least get a season 3 dvd release?

And not saying what will happen to the the toy line suggests one of two things,

They are making the announcement separately (possibly with anouncement of the last pieces) or even Hasbro haven't fully decided what they're doing with the toy line yet.

My guess is the latter

Agreed. Don't you just LOL at the folks who are all like "man, what's wrong - they tied it up PERFECTLY!" I mean like, really... did they? Sigh.

Yeah, well good for you. Plenty of us aren't glad that it failed. Some of us bothered to give it a real chance and watch it grow into one of the best TF incarnations ever offered since the inception of the franchise. I wasn't a fan of the designs at first either, but heck, they grew on me so fast I soon questioned why I ever doubted the look in the first place.

Yeah, this is really what I want to know. People can make up reasons all they like about how the show didn't do well or the toys didn't sell, but those are totally unproven things, and I really want someone to agressively press Hasbro on this at the panel tomorrow and find out WHY the legs have been cut out from under the line. Yes, it's lifespan has been about the same as a Unicron Trilogy show, but those were specifically *designed* to be that long and had their cartoons produced with that timeframe in mind - Animated has clearly been cut short before it has reached its natural end.

What the hell, this was a cool looking show, much better than that anime shit, anime is full of bullshit, this new style was somthing new, I dont want shitty block looking TFs, cars are NOT boxes! Every TF show tried to stick with the ususal, this show had the balls and the audacity to try somthing new, thats why its an awesome show. The story line was good the action was awsum the animation was by far the best TF animation. Only a true TF fan would actually give a new series a chance, but arrogant assholes like yourself dont see that, the toyline did sell well, I barely even see animated toys when I go in a store, the shelves are empty as hell, and the only things left is the universe line on clearence for $8.99

xover 9000 Still, this gives me hope we may see another comic some time in the future, though I would really like a Direct to DVD movie.

This all reminds me of the 2002 Mike Young Productions He-Man... it was an awesome show beloved by the fandom and ended way too soon. ::sigh::

I think that if I like something, it gets cancelled... must learn to never like anything.

well that sux hasbro is so shitty

Shew! For a minute there I thought Hasbro was going to actually keep an amazing thing going. But no, like everything else they do they can't keep a good thing going.

Good job Hasbro. Hey while you're at it can you see if you can destroy some more good things out there? You know the wheel's been around for awhile, I think it's time you guys stepped in and f*cked that up too.

Yeah, if you go to my super walmart, they are packed

what a disappointment that animated had to end like that.

Three out of five. I'm on a roll here. Yeah, I too am pissed that Animated is ending. But they said that Animated will not continue past season 3 IN ANIMATION. That means that the rumor about Blackout and Rodimus getting toy releases could be true...

What RotF toys didn't we know about? The knowledge about Nightbeat and Stockade II came today, certainly, but that was independent of Botcon...

Well, I have to say, while that really bums me out, I can't say I'm surprised. But whatever, that's why we have fan fiction...right?

Deathsaurus? That would've rocked! More Dai Atlas? That would have been even more hard core!

Brawn = Corey Burton? Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.

More answers please!

Animated is over. That's incredibaly unfortunate. Expected, but unfortunate none the less.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHY by the allspark NOOOOOOOOO

If we buy enough DVD's, maybe it will be revived. (See Family Guy)



Though I doubt that.

Wow, guys are taking this far too seriously and personally.

It was a cartoon, it was a good cartoon and had terrific writing and was not afraid to take transformers in a new direction rather than trying to emulate the movie style or go back to where it was before the movie. I liked the characterisation and though I didn't like the first images we saw of the show,it grew on me when moving and realised that there was an iconic element to megatron's design that the anime and movie didn't seem to pick up.


No point hating CN or Hasbro, just be glad that they gave us this gem in the first place. Shame it's all coming to an end without everything sorted out but with any luck we'll either get answers to these plot lines over the weekend or a comic book series tying it all up properly.

For those who didn't like animated, you're entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to asshattery and arguing for the sake of it. It doesn't put the rest of the fandom in good light and for some people justifies the notion that fans on the internet bicker and fall under negative stereotypes. It's just not nice and impolite, so, pack it in K? K.

RIP Transformers animated, all good things must come to an end.

(I really hope that Wyatt is involved with the next transformers cartoon, whatever it is.)

Well it was a blast while it lasted.

I still wish we had gotten a little more closure, But hey, you can't have everything.

Sad news. Ah well, what are you gonna do? Such is life...

All good things...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hope whoever produces the next show knows...they have a hell of an act to follow.

It may get a comic continuation, who knows? Gargoyles got a comic ten years after it went off the air, and IDW did their Beast Wars comics a while back. If Animated remains popular enough, even after being canceled (and it's certainly doing better than the UT or RiD), it may see new life again someday, although I doubt it'll ever be animated again (the irony!).

Just wanted to emphasize that. I respect others' opinions. If you didn't like TFA, no biggie, that's cool. But I have to say it's pretty disrespectful to everyone else that did like and enjoy TFA to slam it and proclaim good riddance. May as well be the same thing as attending a funeral for someone you hate and whipping your junk out and pissing on the grave in front of everybody else that's grieving.

So come on, show at least a little bit of respect for your fellow fans and collectors and can the TFA hate.

Well, that's the end of that then! Bet you we still see lots of threads for "season 4" though...

Want to see these so, SO Badly!

Kinda glad they didn't put the Dinobots in... I'd hate their last appearance to be them getting the Team Rocket treatment!

You know...Having made a series as awesome as Animated they're going to have to try and top it....you can just tell the next series is going for a collosal screw up

You know technically speaking, they never really officially said it's over for good. We're just assuming it's over because they stopped at season 3. For all we know CN could put in an order after the next year or so for more episodes. Besides, they left so many plot points open (which they've already planned out) that it'll be easy to pick up from where they left off. Most of it was left out intentionally just in case they were to have another season.

Dude, I'm glad you feel justified. For me, personally, even if I feel a TF cartoon or toyline sucks I wouldn't be happy to see it get cancelled. Why would anyone, on this website especially, be happy a Transformers series failed?
I don't get that. Just my opinion.

He hates TFA because people that hate g1 exist.

Seriously.